2 Mornings

A lot of people claim to have met Ansel Adams, but how many can say they had their photo taken by him? We stayed at the Sequoia River Dance B&B in Three Rivers outside Sequoia National Park, and once the owner realised I was a photographer he mentioned that as a young child his mother and himself were photographed by AA for a Bell Communications magazine advert some 50+ years ago....and he showed us the original. He said his mother knew who AA was, but he didn't realise to many years later the unique experience he had been part of. Nice to know that AA, like the rest of us, had to do some more mundane photographic work!
And this view is from the B&B backyard, not a bad place to wake up to!

The other image here is from Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, this morning. A frosty start to the day.

Ventura Sunset

On our first day we flew into LA and headed up the coast to Ventura, planning to head over to the Channel Islands National Park the next morning. A nice sunset at Ventura was a good start to the trip, a foretaste of what was to come. A couple of surfers get ready for the next big wave (the same waves had been pounding me on the rocks earlier, now I know about getting out of the way of surprise waves!)

Back home again

After a 26 hour journey from friends in Los Angeles, its good to be home (well, sort of...!)
Whilst I get all my trip images copied over (currently sitting at 6 hours to go!) here's another great shot from the Yarrowee River taken the day before we went away......but look for some great new USA images in the days ahead.

Sequoia National Park - Moro Rock

Had a great 4 days in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park's, and after a long wait on the top of Moro Rock, the low lying clouds parted for this great view. Heading home tomorrow after a fantastic trip, many, many great mages to take home and start posting here.

Kings Canyon National Park

After leaving Yosemite we headed south to Kings Canyon NP and Sequoia National Park. It was incredibly foggy driving through the parks but made for some great photos -  heres a taste in Kings Canyon.

Yosemite Morn 2

We finished our 3 days in Yosemite with the hike to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls. A big hike, was easier going up the down, but the views were fantastic. Earlier that morning (Sunday) caught this neat image near Pohono Bridge - Fern Springs. A nice little pool and waterfall that probably gets overlooked a lot as you drive by when you get into the Valley and because its on a one way part of the roads system you can't go back easily. Off to Kings Canyon today, then onto Sequoia National Park.

Yosemite Morn

Our first morning into the Yosemite National Park on Friday morn after leaving Jackson at 4.30am for the 2 hour drive into the park. This vew was from near the Swinging Bridge.

Abalones at Fort Bragg

Caught this morning at Glass Beach at Fort Bragg as an abalone fisherman gets ready for his early morning dive.

Redwood National Park

We managed to get a couple of days ahead of schedule, so we headed over to Redwood National Park in northern California. A really magnificent area with amazing huge trees, really glad we made the effort. This is from early this morning.

30

Today we visited our 30th National Park in the USA - Lassen Volcanic. Only a very small part of the park is open due to snow conditions, but still enough to give you an idea of how wonderful it must be in its entirety. Found this view on our walk. Off to Redwood National Park today, an extra bonus as we got a couple of days ahead of ourselves keeping out of the snow.

Tulips from Tahoe

Probably the last thing you'd expect from Lake Tahoe, but when we arrived it was snowing big time and you could hardly see the lake. Had a pretty scary trip up and over Daggett Summit at about 10mph but we survived fine and then decided to head on up to Carson City.

Mono Lake Morning

Straight out of the camera this morning....this is what your intrepid blogger goes through. On Hwy 120 near Mono Lake in eastern California, the snow set in over night but I was till determined to see Mono Lake at Sunrise. Well worth the effort, and the cold - heres a couple from this morning.

Dantes View, Death Valley and Cathedral Gorge Nevada

The last thing we expected in Death Valley was snow, but thats what we got at the Dantes View lookout. And the second image is from Cathedral Gorge State Park in Nevada which turned out to be a real surprise and well worth the visit, and for our evening visit we had it all to ourselves. As you can see the great conditions continue to follow us, in fact yesterday driving across Nevada into Tonopah was just amazing with the skies threatening and spectacular all day, I was pulling over every 5 minutes! Hard to keep up with the posting as I've been getting up at 5am, and shooting past 8pm most days.

Death Valley Dune

I'm back after a couple of days with no internet access. Just a quick dune shot from Mesquite Dunes before the big sand storm hit, as you can see the conditions were pretty nice! Got a lot more to show but time is tight, off to Great Basin National Park today.

Trona Pinnacles

From Saturday night, about 16 miles from Ridgecrest, California - the Trona Pinnacles. They're a lot bigger than they look, and have featured in quite a few sci fi films - Star Wars, Planet of the Apes.

A Whale of a time.....

This just shows how close we got to the whales on the trip out to the Channel Islands....and we had an hour of this! After we got back the next day we finished off at Ventura Pier. Next stop Trona Pinnacles on the way to Ballarat, and Death Valley.

Channel Islands National Park

Just a quick  entry to show one of the first images from this great place. Had an amazing trip over on the boat, got to spend an hour with 3 humpback whales up-close (pics to come)...but this is an image to give you an overview of the fantastic scenery. Off to Ridgecrest today - Trona Pinnacles!

Stateside Day 1

Long but OK flight over, this is the 4th pic I took today on the way up to Ventura on Hwy 1, about 35 miles north of LA. Had a geat sunset tonite as well, but will get back to them soon, I hope. Off to the Channel Islands National Park tomorrow, so off the grid for a couple of days...and camping as well, that should be a test for me!

OK, Last, Last post, I promise!

Packed and ready to go on our trip, but managed to squeeze in one last session locally this afternoon. I went out to the Yarrowee Creek on the weekend and got some nice images, but felt another trip was worthwhile depending on conditions. We've had a great autumn here, best for many years, and with some overcast conditions to work with this is one of the pics I came home with.

The Last Post.....

....before we head off...look for something totally different for the next 24 days. Todays pics are from Monday evening at Lake Learmonth and Weatherboard (yes, thats the name of the district!).

In the thick of it....

From Friday, arrived just at the right time when this paddock burn-off was in full force. Makes you understand how frightening a bushfire must be. Then onto Cockpit Lagoon for sunset, and just a nice simple sunrise from Lake Wendouree on Sunday morning.